PA against moderating UNRWA school curriculum

PA official meets with Arab Workers' Union in UNRWA, promises to work to thwart implementation of a less extremist curriculum.

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Dalit Halevy, 28/11/17 07:49

UNRWA

Abed Rahim Katib/Flash 90

Sabri Saidam, responsible for “culture and higher education” in the Palestinian Authority, met with a delegation of the Arab Workers Union in UNRWA in Judea and Samaria and discussed issues related to the status of workers and education policy in UNRWA schools.

Saidam expressed his office’s opposition to changing the curriculum in UNRWA schools, stressing that the PA makes a clear distinction between enriching the content of the studies and changing the content of the studies.

UNRWA's management has recently attempted to reform its school curriculum, which is based on radical expressions against Israel, and to replace it with a more moderate approach to the Israeli-Palestinian Arab conflict.

On November 7, 2017, UNRWA's Arab Workers' Union in the Gaza Strip issued an official statement condemning any change in the school curriculum of the host country - meaning the PA.

Last year, the Arab Workers’ Union in UNRWA similarly thwarted an attempt by UNRWA to integrate the study of the Holocaust into its school curriculum.